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I washed my hands then circled back to the couch. I sat back down on the soft leather, crossing my foot at my knee, and draping an arm over the back of the couch. Whitney tucked her legs into her chest.
“Are you cold?” I immediately reached for a heavy fleece blanket stowed in a basket by the side of the couch and handed it to her.
She took it and covered her shoulders like it was a giant shawl.
“The first place we are going to is Chateau Charlie, the French bistro.”
I nodded. “The food is good, but the restaurant is a little pretentious.” Sure, the food was good if you liked that sort of thing, but I tended to be the kind of person who’d rather have a burger and a beer, not an overpriced slice of fancy fish and snail eggs.
“Well, I looked at the analytics on who attends these events and they tend to be older, and wealthier members of Haver’s Creek. Unsurprising, I guess. They might like the ambiance of a fancy restaurant, especially if we put our own spin on things.”
I agreed. “Let’s check it out.”
Again, Whitney shot me a look of surprise.
It was starting to get on my nerves.
What? I could be reasonable.
And Whitney wasn’t wrong about the typical age for a Haver’s Creek Police Officer’s Gala attendee. They tended to lean towards retirement age. Many of them donned expensive jewelry and flaunted their wealth. They’d probably be more amenable to the location than the actual police force, but then again, the gala was more for the donors than the beneficiaries. Or so it always seemed.
“So, we have a fancy French bistro and then what?” I rubbed under my chin.
Whitney took a breath. “Well, I’m not sure if this is a good idea or not, but I was thinking that we check out the town square as a potential location.” She looked defiant as she said it, as if she wanted me to contradict her.
I twisted my lips. “You mean the Haver’s Creek town square? The one where you had your accident just a few days ago?”
Whitney clicked her tongue as she sat up to explain. “Think about it.” She waved her hands in front of her as if setting a scene. “We can string lights out there, get those heater lamps that restaurants use so people can eat outside when it’s cold out, we can have a string quartet and a dance floor. We could create a beautiful winter wonderland in the middle of town. And rather than being exclusive and holed up somewhere private, we could broadcast to the town that this is an annual event and garner excitement for next year. We can make this the party that everyone wants to be at and be seen.” Whitney’s eyes lit up, her excitement for this idea overwhelming.
I had to tell her the truth. “Honestly, that sounds amazing, Sprinkles.” And it really did. I’m not sure how some of the older, stuffier patrons would feel about it and I’m not sure the Ohio weather would do us any favors—storms happened suddenly and frequently year-round in this state. But I had no trouble picturing the image Whitney conjured up in her mind.
“It would be unique and definitely something people would talk about. We should see what it would take to make it happen.” Although I did have concerns about the weather.
Whitney gave me a devil-may-care grin. “I’ve already done some of the research on how much the supplies would cost. I just need to talk to the Parks Department to see what it would take to get the permit.”
Then Whitney lost a bit of her spark.
“What’s wrong?”
“My only concern is the weather. Same concern that we had about the brewery.”
Wasn’t I just thinking about that exact same thing? I nodded. This had been the problem with the brewery. Not the only problem, mind you, but one of them at least.
“This is Ohio, not drought-ridden California. The weather could take a turn real quick.” And it could. Even if this event were held in the summer the weather would still be a concern.
“I know. It’s the only thing really holding me back from pushing this. I need to see a couple of other places and then just pull the trigger. Although, if we end up going with the town square, we will need a backup location, just in case.”
“Sounds like a good idea.”
“So where is it you said you were taking me tomorrow?”
I chuckled. “Nice try. You are just going to have to go with the flow and let me show you the final option for the gala.”
Whitney bit her bottom lip. “We need to make a decision by the end of the day tomorrow, no matter what. We don’t have time to waste locking down the location because that has a trickledown effect. Finalizing the invites, getting all the catering and other goods taken care of. We can’t move on to those things without a venue. It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks,” she said with a hint of warning. At least she had put a temporary stop on trying to ditch me.
“Lucky for you, my boss anticipated this and has lightened my work schedule quite a bit for the next two weeks.”
Whitney didn’t look thrilled.
